Varun, Omeed, Puja, Shreya were given the seemingly impossible task of trying to take a 6th grader's problems, and creating a tangible solution for him. We met with our clientele, who happened to be a really great kid named Brendan Wong.
Over the course of this process, we feel like we've gotten to know Brendan really well, and we hope that he enjoys the device we've created for him. We can't stress enough how much fun this whole process has been, and we'd like to thank Brendan here for putting up with us, giving us insight, letting us know where we went right and wrong. Thanks!
Empathy
What are some experiences that you've had in the hallways? Tell me some of your opinions of your hallway experiencesin general?
He felt embarrassed by getting bullied, and felt insecure when people told him “Trip so I can laugh”.
Once, an 8th grader pushed him down in the hallway.
What’s the method of transportation you take, and more specifically, what’s your opinionon it in general.
His mother picked him up and dropped him off, so he told us mainly about how he preferred that over the bus. He told us a story about how “[a] bus broke down, [and they] had a substitute bus driver who speeded.
Can you tell us about your situation with friends when you came to the academy? How has it changed since you've been here for almost 4 weeks? Did you experience any problemsinitially?
He talked about how when he was trying to learn about how the academy worked, he used the feedback he gained from talking to his older brother who also attended the academy. He said this helped him feel more prepared. He also talked about the praises that his older brother sang of certain teachers. One of the specific imperative things he mentioned here, was that he wished there was something that made the transition from elementary to middle school less drastic, and perhaps gave him some more preparation.
What is your current opinion of your 6th grade academy teachers so far? Can you tell us any interesting stories, good or bad that you'd like to share with you about your teachers that you think are memorable and relevant?How would you describe your homework load? Are there any complaints or storiesthat you have for us?
He likes most of his teachers at this time, and when asked, he wouldn't mention any names of teachers that he didn't really like. He said that his brother had told him about a lot of the teachers. He said he had witnessed occurrences of miscommunications between substitute teachers and regular teachers, and he wanted this to be fixed ultimately, as it made the classroom more efficient.
1. He mentioned that the homework load definitely changed from 5th grade to 6th grade. One of the problems he gave us that we wanted to fix was he felt there was a miscommunication problem between himself and his parents. He didn't want to talk to his parents about difficulties that he was having with homework or homework loads. When his parents asked him about how his day went, he would say "Oh, good" and move on. He had some issues with communication with his parents.
Define
Challenges:
Being able to make a better transition from 5th to 6th grade is difficult this basically leads to stress and grades dropping, and feeling unnatural or uncomfortable. The challenge here is basically the ability, (or lack thereof) to make a complete transition from two drastically contrasting environments comfortably.
Control bullies and bad behavior will lead to stress not liking school (which the students may already have enough of)
Getting homework help is a problem, because bad grades, stress, staying up late, ignorant as to what to do
Better Teacher student communication, because its hard to do homework an it is hard to understand.
He had an extremely large homework load that he wasn't used to yet.
There were miscommunication errors with his parents.
He witnessed miscommunications between his substitute teachers.
Our client’s biggest problem:
Making an easy transition from 5th to 6th grade in order to help people to get better ‘informed’ and essentially a way of making way into middle school prepared. This challenge is most significant because this problem is not proprietary, and if solved a global solution could be implemented that could help more than just our client.
Why did you choose this challenge over all of the other possible challenges? Why, if this problem is solved, will it have the largest impact on many students?
Because from our discussion with Brendan and observing other kids we came to a level of consensus that these kids were totally and utterly lost. They were nervous and most of all uncomfortable, to the limit that they found it madness to still be at their locker when they only had 3 minutes left. These kids are taking a monumental shift from no expectations, to sky-high ones. So we chose this because it aims as a problem by not just one but all sixth graders, and was also chosen (through my opinion) based off of the fact this can be damaging to the sixth grader mentally because they feel all of this pressure and feeling as if everyone is wanting them to do more and more and more all of a sudden, its should be taken on with a different approach. This product would help students not just here but globally allowing them to understand and get used to their new and mature middle school life.
Ideate
Ideas Presented:
1. Glasses that allow you to see the way to your classrooms so that you will not get lost.[This will solve the problem by allowing you to navigate easily throughout the school without getting lost. Brendan seemed to like this idea because of the “coolnes factor”] 2. Contact lenses that let fifth graders see into the eyes of a middle schooler so that they are prepared for middle school.[One of the hardest things for a 5th grader according to Brendan, is to get used to the Middle School “environment” or “lifestyle” so to speak. Once again there was a certain “coolness” factor involved, along with a lot of usability and practicality as well] 3. A homework helper that helps sixth graders to keep up with their school work.[Brendan laughed at this one, because he was already complaining about a lot of homework. This one appealed to him, mainly because it helped him manage his homework more efficiently] 4. A locker ID card that minimizes time by preventing Students from having to put in their combination. [Brendan had been telling us how lockers were rather complicated, and we had established he had a gravitation towards technologic and semi-futuristic solutions] 5. An empathy program that allows teachers to see how much other homework students have to try and minimize stress of students.[This one appealed to him because it offered him an easy gateway to get his point across to his parents by avoiding the unwanted and unnecessary awkwardness involved] 6. A watch that combines all of the ideas above and when you press a button a holographic image attends to your service. [This one seemed to get his attention the most. We discussed this with him, and he suggested that we create a product that would combine many of the ideas that we presented to him]
Ideating Questions Used (These were used to help evaluate which idea was best to start prototyping):
Do you like this idea or not?
What do you like about this idea in specific?
Would this be a product that you would be willing to use in real life, and why?
Prototype
Prototyping Addition:
Brendan seemed to have a largely measurable gravitation towards technology within solutions, and when asking him about this, he told us that he was entranced by “anything with technology” As a result, we had to try and create some futuristic concepts that would appeal to him. Although the ability to create true versions of these prototypes was limited, we tried to represent them as best as possible, and create whatever was usable to the best degree that we could. Because of the necessity for technology that exists mostly within our creative geniuses, some of the features in our prototype are a bit abstract, and require some imagination to fully comprehend and synthesize with.
Feedback
1. Why or why don’t you think that our product is aesthetically pleasing?
“It looks cool.”
Brendan was happy when he saw our watch. He, for the most part didn't have any negative responses pertaining to its look.
2. What do you think is the “coolest” part about our product?
“Umm......... everything”
3.What’s the first unpleasing thing that you notice and why?
“It looks cool i like it. There is nothing bad.”
4. What is your opinion of our rotating mechanism?
“Cool, can it actually spin?”
5. Why or why wouldn't you be willing to use this product in real life?
“Does it actually work? if it does i would but if not then well.... i cant”
Basically Brendan stating he would like to use this product in school to assist him in his transition but he was uncertain if the producers would be able to create the technology to manufacture and produce this watch before he left middle school in 3 years.
6. If you could change one thing about our product, what would it be?
“Add buttons on the side of the watch top or watch band so that you could choose the screen and you don’t have to keep moving the rotating screen. Also make the ischool thing more users friendly because it was confusing.”
7. How do you think this would solve the problems you told us you had; why or why not?
“It solves all of my problems but what would happen if someone stole my watch? Can you add a lock or password or even a finger scan?”
8. Is there anything else about the product you would like or not like?
“I don’t want games because they aren’t god to have in school but one game should be fine. Actually... no games. I like it. It’s cool.”
Post Production:
After receiving feedback from our client, we began remodeling our invention. One of the big things we targeted was our ischool program and the functions or how it actually works. We also created a verbal password detector that senses your voice before you can enable an action. To increase productivity and efficiency,we added color coded buttons that can bring the user to the holographic screen they need without having to rotate the mechanism. This feature acts as a shortcut.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
Describe at least 5 insights, epiphanies, reframes (big or little) you had about project. Please include what led you to these i.e. what fun stuff you did to uncover them?
We had a sort of epiphanies when we discovered our ability to incorporate a real rotating mechanism within the watch. Another "eureka" moment occurred when we got the idea to include multiple of our original ideas within the ultimate design itself. Our idea was originally for glasses that accomplished the same tasks that our watch accomplishes now, but after consulting with Brendan himself, we decided that not only was the watch idea cliche, it was impractical for the usage that we were aiming for. During the prototyping process in general, we had a blast with all the art supplies, and the just being able to represent ourselves. By trying to incorporate our rotating mechanism, we came across certain areas that lacked structural integrity, and we would have to reframe. Another great moment that we reminisce over is how overjoyed Brendan looked after we showed him our watch in it's final phase. The look on his face was priceless, when he saw that we took what seemed like his mundane problems, and developed a tangible solution for him.
How did you work as a team?
We had a decent Dynamix. We were able to effectively communicate our ideas and produce quality solutions, but we did face some minor disagreements. Overall, we were able to accomplish our goal in creating a useful and effective product for our client while working together in a productive and cooperative manner. As team-mates, we would delegate work efficiently, and we realized quickly that we had to play to each of our strengths, so that all of us could be putting the best quality work on our project.
What was your best/worst team experience?
We had many joys in this project, one of the most memorable would have to be discussing functionality of possible solutions. While colaborating with Mr. Sebek on our solution, Mr. Sebek suggested a possible dual function for one of our solutions in which we had a great laugh with.
When was your team process strong?
Our process was extremely cooperative when we were brainstorming and cumulating solutions. In retrospect, we could have worked in a slightly closer fashion, as in some cases, each of us was working on something seperately in semi-isolation, and we would convene only for attachment of various pieces to the prototype.
What would you do differently next time?
We would improve our plan of action, and try to limit the period of idleness while prototyping. We would probably have tried to test our rotating box feature on our stand before we constructed it, because we had to redesign it to improve efficiency.
Introduction
Varun, Omeed, Puja, Shreya were given the seemingly impossible task of trying to take a 6th grader's problems, and creating a tangible solution for him. We met with our clientele, who happened to be a really great kid named Brendan Wong.Over the course of this process, we feel like we've gotten to know Brendan really well, and we hope that he enjoys the device we've created for him. We can't stress enough how much fun this whole process has been, and we'd like to thank Brendan here for putting up with us, giving us insight, letting us know where we went right and wrong. Thanks!
Empathy
- What are some experiences that you've had in the hallways? Tell me some of your opinions of your hallway experiencesin general?
- He felt embarrassed by getting bullied, and felt insecure when people told him “Trip so I can laugh”.
- Once, an 8th grader pushed him down in the hallway.
- What’s the method of transportation you take, and more specifically, what’s your opinionon it in general.
- His mother picked him up and dropped him off, so he told us mainly about how he preferred that over the bus. He told us a story about how “[a] bus broke down, [and they] had a substitute bus driver who speeded.
- Can you tell us about your situation with friends when you came to the academy? How has it changed since you've been here for almost 4 weeks? Did you experience any problemsinitially?
- He talked about how when he was trying to learn about how the academy worked, he used the feedback he gained from talking to his older brother who also attended the academy. He said this helped him feel more prepared. He also talked about the praises that his older brother sang of certain teachers. One of the specific imperative things he mentioned here, was that he wished there was something that made the transition from elementary to middle school less drastic, and perhaps gave him some more preparation.
- What is your current opinion of your 6th grade academy teachers so far? Can you tell us any interesting stories, good or bad that you'd like to share with you about your teachers that you think are memorable and relevant?How would you describe your homework load? Are there any complaints or storiesthat you have for us?
- He likes most of his teachers at this time, and when asked, he wouldn't mention any names of teachers that he didn't really like. He said that his brother had told him about a lot of the teachers. He said he had witnessed occurrences of miscommunications between substitute teachers and regular teachers, and he wanted this to be fixed ultimately, as it made the classroom more efficient.
1. He mentioned that the homework load definitely changed from 5th grade to 6th grade. One of the problems he gave us that we wanted to fix was he felt there was a miscommunication problem between himself and his parents. He didn't want to talk to his parents about difficulties that he was having with homework or homework loads. When his parents asked him about how his day went, he would say "Oh, good" and move on. He had some issues with communication with his parents.Define
Challenges:
Our client’s biggest problem:
Why did you choose this challenge over all of the other possible challenges? Why, if this problem is solved, will it have the largest impact on many students?
Ideate
Ideas Presented:
1. Glasses that allow you to see the way to your classrooms so that you will not get lost.[This will solve the problem by allowing you to navigate easily throughout the school without getting lost. Brendan seemed to like this idea because of the “coolnes factor”]
2. Contact lenses that let fifth graders see into the eyes of a middle schooler so that they are prepared for middle school.[One of the hardest things for a 5th grader according to Brendan, is to get used to the Middle School “environment” or “lifestyle” so to speak. Once again there was a certain “coolness” factor involved, along with a lot of usability and practicality as well]
3. A homework helper that helps sixth graders to keep up with their school work.[Brendan laughed at this one, because he was already complaining about a lot of homework. This one appealed to him, mainly because it helped him manage his homework more efficiently]
4. A locker ID card that minimizes time by preventing Students from having to put in their combination. [Brendan had been telling us how lockers were rather complicated, and we had established he had a gravitation towards technologic and semi-futuristic solutions]
5. An empathy program that allows teachers to see how much other homework students have to try and minimize stress of students.[This one appealed to him because it offered him an easy gateway to get his point across to his parents by avoiding the unwanted and unnecessary awkwardness involved]
6. A watch that combines all of the ideas above and when you press a button a holographic image attends to your service. [This one seemed to get his attention the most. We discussed this with him, and he suggested that we create a product that would combine many of the ideas that we presented to him]
Ideating Questions Used (These were used to help evaluate which idea was best to start prototyping):
Prototype
Prototyping Addition:
Brendan seemed to have a largely measurable gravitation towards technology within solutions, and when asking him about this, he told us that he was entranced by “anything with technology” As a result, we had to try and create some futuristic concepts that would appeal to him. Although the ability to create true versions of these prototypes was limited, we tried to represent them as best as possible, and create whatever was usable to the best degree that we could. Because of the necessity for technology that exists mostly within our creative geniuses, some of the features in our prototype are a bit abstract, and require some imagination to fully comprehend and synthesize with.
Feedback
1. Why or why don’t you think that our product is aesthetically pleasing?“It looks cool.”
Brendan was happy when he saw our watch. He, for the most part didn't have any negative responses pertaining to its look.
2. What do you think is the “coolest” part about our product?
“Umm......... everything”
3.What’s the first unpleasing thing that you notice and why?
“It looks cool i like it. There is nothing bad.”
4. What is your opinion of our rotating mechanism?
“Cool, can it actually spin?”
5. Why or why wouldn't you be willing to use this product in real life?
“Does it actually work? if it does i would but if not then well.... i cant”
Basically Brendan stating he would like to use this product in school to assist him in his transition but he was uncertain if the producers would be able to create the technology to manufacture and produce this watch before he left middle school in 3 years.
6. If you could change one thing about our product, what would it be?
“Add buttons on the side of the watch top or watch band so that you could choose the screen and you don’t have to keep moving the rotating screen. Also make the ischool thing more users friendly because it was confusing.”
7. How do you think this would solve the problems you told us you had; why or why not?
“It solves all of my problems but what would happen if someone stole my watch? Can you add a lock or password or even a finger scan?”
8. Is there anything else about the product you would like or not like?
“I don’t want games because they aren’t god to have in school but one game should be fine. Actually... no games. I like it. It’s cool.”
Post Production:
After receiving feedback from our client, we began remodeling our invention. One of the big things we targeted was our ischool program and the functions or how it actually works. We also created a verbal password detector that senses your voice before you can enable an action. To increase productivity and efficiency,we added color coded buttons that can bring the user to the holographic screen they need without having to rotate the mechanism. This feature acts as a shortcut.REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
We had a sort of epiphanies when we discovered our ability to incorporate a real rotating mechanism within the watch. Another "eureka" moment occurred when we got the idea to include multiple of our original ideas within the ultimate design itself. Our idea was originally for glasses that accomplished the same tasks that our watch accomplishes now, but after consulting with Brendan himself, we decided that not only was the watch idea cliche, it was impractical for the usage that we were aiming for. During the prototyping process in general, we had a blast with all the art supplies, and the just being able to represent ourselves. By trying to incorporate our rotating mechanism, we came across certain areas that lacked structural integrity, and we would have to reframe. Another great moment that we reminisce over is how overjoyed Brendan looked after we showed him our watch in it's final phase. The look on his face was priceless, when he saw that we took what seemed like his mundane problems, and developed a tangible solution for him.
We had a decent Dynamix. We were able to effectively communicate our ideas and produce quality solutions, but we did face some minor disagreements. Overall, we were able to accomplish our goal in creating a useful and effective product for our client while working together in a productive and cooperative manner. As team-mates, we would delegate work efficiently, and we realized quickly that we had to play to each of our strengths, so that all of us could be putting the best quality work on our project.
We had many joys in this project, one of the most memorable would have to be discussing functionality of possible solutions. While colaborating with Mr. Sebek on our solution, Mr. Sebek suggested a possible dual function for one of our solutions in which we had a great laugh with.
Our process was extremely cooperative when we were brainstorming and cumulating solutions. In retrospect, we could have worked in a slightly closer fashion, as in some cases, each of us was working on something seperately in semi-isolation, and we would convene only for attachment of various pieces to the prototype.
We would improve our plan of action, and try to limit the period of idleness while prototyping. We would probably have tried to test our rotating box feature on our stand before we constructed it, because we had to redesign it to improve efficiency.